There was an unusual atmosphere of hustle and bustle at
the normally peaceful Lakewood Villa this day... clan members from all over were
on the grounds and servants scurried about preparing for some great event. A
young boy in his mid-teens half looked out the window at the scene below and
half looked in the mirror before him trying to decide if his hair looked
quiteright.

"Ah well, no matter," he thought since he would be
donning a bonnet to cover it anyway.

All the men of the Adley clan were
supposed to be in full traditional dress for the outing which meant a Scottish
kilt, the plaid, sporran and dirk – the whole works, even a bagpipe, if you
could play one -- and William could.

Before he could turn away a rough
hand tousled his long blond locks from behind ruining any previous attempt at
managing them.

"You'd better quit messin' with your hair son, and get
downstairs before the party leaves without ye!” William's father said with a
ring of impatience. "An' where's your medallion, boy? Don't you be a
forgetting that, now either!"

William spun around in time to see his
father's back as he was going out the door. "Don't worry! I'm sixteen now you
know and can think for myself."

But Sir Adley Sr. was gone with no
response whatsoever.

"Someday soon, I'll be old enough to do what I want
to do with nobody looking over my shoulder all the time," he muttered to himself
and continued dressing.

His father had been born in Scotland and was
from of one of the oldest, and wealthiest families of that country. Sir William
Sr. moved to America and increased his wealth in banking and theAmerican
stock market. Though immeasurably wealthy, his father was still a practical man
and a down-to-earth man even if that didn’t make William's mother overly
joyous...she and Great Aunt were too busy climbing social ladders to really care
anyway, and they knew they couldn’t change Father.

William remembered
when he was little that Great Aunt Elroy smiled much more, and she was more fun
to be around -- Nowadays she sounded like had she swallowed an Etiquette Book
and if perchance she smiled it might crack her face. But William only felt sorry
for her. Thank God his Father had not become a "stuffed shirt" like his mother
had from Aunt Elroy’s influence. Still even so, William the younger's
outlook on life was quite different from his father's, a fact that was becoming
more and more obvious, and upsetting to all the close family members.

He
looked around the large lovely decorated room with its elegant French Provincial
and more modern Victorian furnishings. Truth be told, he didn’t care if it were
an old shack he were living in! He often spent time in the old abandoned house
back in the woods with his friends, the local fauna. He had tamed some of the
wild animals and they were eating right from his hand, a fact that made him
proud indeed. But he dare not tell his parents -- they would probably insist
that he not go into the woods and give him rabies shots just for touching
anything with fur besides a domesticated dog, cat or a horse.

He had to
chuckle to himself when he thought about the look on Great Aunt face if she
could see him petting or feeding a skunk or a wild deer. "She'd likely drop
dead, right there," he thought.

He was digging hastily in a dresser
drawer thinking about these things when the glint of precious metal caught his
eye.

"Ah ha! there you are," he exclaimed as he drew the object up into
the sunlight.

It was the Adley crest. The medallion was made of gold and
silver and flashed in the morning sunlight. It was fashioned in the form of an
eagle and there were three diamonds set around the bird's head and a large
cursive "A" on its breast. From it’s tailfeathers a tiny bell tinkled musically
as William pinned the medallion to his tartan shirt.

"I'd catch the
dickens if I lost this," he grumbled and dashed out the door and down the
stairs.

**********

The ride was a day-long affair and the party
would ride through the countryside about 3 hrs. journey to the hill country near
a small town that existed mostly because the railroad passed through there.
William didn't know the name of the town and it was doubtful they would see it
anyway, going cross-country and avoiding the roads. They would stop for lunch in
that area and maybe if daylight held out also stop for tea on the return trip at
a lake about 30 min. ride outside of Lakewood. If William didn't care greatly
for the company he would enjoy being outdoors and seeing the sights -- and
perhaps he would see or even make some new animal friends, granted he could
sneak away long enough at the proper moment. He figured the lunch break would be
his best opportunity to do this and relished the idea even as they started out.

Riding out the through the beautiful rose gates, William looked back at
the familiar sight of the Villa -- he would miss it greatly. The newest addition
to the Adley holdings of cost-prohibitive, oversized domiciles would be
completed by the Spring of next year. Located in Chicago the new central home of
the Adley clan promised to be the largest and grandest mansion in the State of
Illinois, maybe even the whole U.S.A.

The move was inevitable and he
knew it was coming, because Rosemary, his older sister had died here last fall.
There were too many bad memories lingering here for Mother and Father, himself
included.

The scent of roses filled the air as he passed beyond the
gates. Rosemary’s wonderful roses...she loved the Villa more than any other
place in the world.

Besides, Father would be closer to his business, and
Mother would be in better proximity to all the important social gatherings.
William would be farther away from his beloved woods, the old mansion and his
friends, the animals. He would have to move to Chicago with the rest of his
family and prepare to someday take over the family business and its accompanying
duties.

The bright side, if any, was that Great Aunt and her perpetual
frown-face would remain at the Villa, at least most of the time. But that was
little consolation.

***********

The riding party had stopped
for lunch. It was amazing what had come along for a few hours ride, the servants
had brought small portable tables and chairs, cooking utensils, even some fine
china.

Watching the scene disgusted William. He liked the rugged, rough
and tumble experience of being out "in the wild" and here the Adley clan had
brought all the trappings of fine society with them.

"They might as well
stayed at home," he muttered under his breath and walked toward a distant stand
of trees -- behind the trees was a steep hill.

"They'll be sipping tea
and gossiping for quite some time and it will take the servants another half
hour to pack all that stuff, he thought."

"So, I'll have time to climb
that hill and get a good view of the countryside."

He started off for
the woods and brought his pipes along too, even though they were a bit to lug he
thought he might get a chance to see some wild animals. His animals at old
mansion liked the sound of the pipes so maybe he could attract some animals that
way.

"Aye, music hath charms to soothe the savage beast," he said as he
patted his pipes and disappeared into the trees.

It took longer than he
figured to clear the woods and worse, some rain clouds had dumped a summer
shower on the area, but at last William was in the open again. The steep hill
was right ahead…it looked like he would have to take a little bend to the left
and then back to the right to reach the crest.

"I’ve come too far to
turn around now, but I'd better hurry up to the top."

He didn't expect
some kind of breathtaking view but still the hill was there and he was going to
climb it. He was about a third of the way up when he noticed a building to his
left. It looked like a church, just a small frame building with a cross atop a
meagerly built steeple. Little kids were playing outside around the building and
next to a large tree nearby it. Then he recalled someone in the riding party
mention there was a small orphanage in the area.

"That must be it," he
thought. For some reason, William felt inclined for a moment to climb the huge
tree -- but dismissed the thought saying to himself, "Not a chance wearing this
garb" and chuckled out loud.

Turning his attention away from the
building and the tree he continued his ascent and had gotten near the crest when
he heard a sound not far away, it was the sound of someone weeping. Hurrying
forward towards the sound it grew louder, yes, it was the sound of a girl softly
sobbing and he could see her through the trees now -- lying face down in the wet
grass. She clutched a letter in her small hand. He could hear what she was
saying now between sobs..."Annie"..."Oh Annie"...

Apparently, William
thought, she must be an orphan girl from the building he saw in the valley
below. Running into a little girl crying in the woods wasn't quite what he
expected when he wanted to climb this hill, but here he was, and there she was.
He felt sorry for the girl and wished there was some way to cheer her up. He
came forward softly but the girl sensed his approach, the crying ceased and the
limp letter fell unconsciously from her grasp.

The girl was fair-haired
and looked to be about six or seven years old. She looked up and stared with
wide blue eyes at her surprise visitor, moist tears still rolling down her
cheeks. She had a cute little face, he thought, with a smallish nose sprinkled
with a generous amount of freckles.

The girl looked William over from
head to toe with a look of marvel on her freckled face. Her eyes fixed
particularly on William's pipes.

Then, still with the puzzled look on her
face she broke the silence speaking out loudly.

"Who are you?"

"Who do I look like?" said William, returning her question with a
question -- curious to see how the girl would react.

Her eyes were still
wide with amazement. Apparently she had never seen anything quite like
him.

"Your clothes, they're funny -- you look like an alien!"

The
girl had heard her teachers talking about the immigrants coming in droves to
America recently and used that word, "alien" and it seemed, at least to her, to
fit the strange boy.

"An alien?" repeated William with a quizzical look
on his face. "Oh, she thinks I am not from the United States, well, I hardly
look it with this garb on!" he thought.

The girl continued,
"Welll..because you are a boy, and...You’re wearing a skirt! And you're
carrying a flute with a belly!"

The conversation was beginning to amuse
William, but some clarification was in order, he didn’t want her to run back
home and tell her guardians a strange man was wandering in the woods wearing
a woman's dress, such rumors would not be good for the Adley name...yes, the
great Adley name, something else to stay on “needles and pins" about constantly.
He was looking less and less forward to the day that he would be bearing the
full brunt of this responsibility as well.

The thought was unpleasant so
he dismissed it turning his attention back to tutoring his "new
pupil".

"It's not a woman's skirt - it's called a kilt and it is
traditional formal men's dress in Scotland, that’s where my family is from...and
this is a musical instrument, they are called "bagpipes"...and here,
I'll
play something for you."

William raised the mouthpiece to his lips and
began to play. The mournful droning melody of the pipes filled the forest and
echoed over the ridge. He wondered if the riding party would hear it and stopped
abruptly. It came to him the sudden shower would have certainly shortened the
party's lunch break so he had better be getting back there.

Looking up
and back at the girl he noticed she had wrinkled her nose and screwed up her
mouth like she had bitten into a sour lemon, then she stuck out her tongue and
exclaimed in a loud voice.

"It sounds like a parade of snails!"

This struck William as too funny and he burst out laughing.

"A
snail parade? That's just too much!"

And when he laughed so did the
girl...and they were both laughing, the heir of the Adley fortune and this
little orphan girl.

"How nice to see her with a happy face, her cute
laugh, and that smile -- you'd never know this was a girl with no Father or
Mother...an orphan..." He was glad he came to this hill, this girl made the trip
worth it.

"You're much prettier when you smile, little girl!" he
beamed, then reflected on what that particular phrase meant to him.

It
was a common thing his late sister, Rosemary, would say to her son Anthony when
he had scuffed his elbow or became otherwise discomforted like little boys often
did.

"You're much handsomer when you smile, Anthony dear," she would tell
him, and more often than not, his little face would brighten up and he would
quit crying.

Of course, William had changed the "handsomer" to
"prettier" in this case, but it came quite natural to him...and this young girl,
she reminded him of his sister in a way...her flashing blue eyes. Then he
thought of the riding party again -- he had better get back, they would be
leaving soon.

The girl's freckled face blushed to red, and she realized
that this boy had seen her on the ground crying.

"How embarrassing!" she
thought and spun around out of the boy's gaze.

Just then a sudden gust
of wind picked up her letter and she saw it blowing out of her sight, into some
nearby trees.

"Oh my letter!" she exclaimed and dashed off to rescue
it.

The still damp ground hadn't allowed it to get very far and she
caught up to it.

"My name's Candy! What's your name?" she blurted as
her snatched up her soggy prize.

She turned to walk back to the clearing
to join her strange new friend...that boy with his funny costume, like something
out of a book of fairy tales...like a young prince. Yes, he came along at just
the right time and cheered her up when she needed a friend, he definitely was a
Prince among boys.

"Play that snail-sound again!" she chimed as she
cornered the last of trees blocking the view of her new acquaintance. But when
she got to the clearing, no one was there. The Prince was gone.

The mist
caused by the shower was starting to drift away, and tiny droplets of rain still
dripped from the trees but there was no other sound.

"Was all just a
dream?" she asked herself.

The brief encounter did seem so unreal, that
boy, the Prince -- he came and went like a ghost...was he a ghost? She wondered.

The dark clouds that brought the rain rolled back giving way to bright
summer sunshine again. She was about to go back down the hill, back to the only
home she knew when the glint of something shiny caught her eye, something lying
in the grass...

**********

When William returned to the riding
party everyone was standing around talking, but in an impatient sort of way. He
knew he had been gone too long when upon being spotted coming towards them from
the wood, everyone began to mount their horses -- except his Father...who strode
towards his son with an unwelcome look of anger on his face.

Without
looking he reached up to the place where the precious medallion should have been
pinned to his shirt. It wasn't there. "Damn, it must have come off back on that
hill, of all the luck.”

William obliged his father, not caring to confess
the truth.

"I'm sorry Father...I must have misplaced it and didn't have
time to find it before we left the Villa.”

"Ah, excuses,
excuses...someday yer goin' to have to carry the responsibilities of the clan,
boy."

"An, yer gitten off to a mite poor start."

"I said I was
sorry!" William retorted.

But his father had already stalked off
towards his mount not paying much attention to the apologetics.

"Ah, the
responsibilities of the Adley clan? Not if I can help it." William
thought.

"I really don’t want anything much to do with your Adley clan,
your stupid tea parties, or even the money!"

William blushed a little
thinking such rebellious thoughts, but he truly didn't want to follow in the
footsteps of his father -- and the only one he could confide in with this was
George...only George really understood William's problems.

Still, George
also had a way of talking the young Adley heir out of doing a lot of things he
would have liked to do...things that would certainly make his parents furious.
But someday George's guidance would not influence him. Someday, William would
have his way. He turned his thoughts away from the distant future and back to
the present dilemma, of the lost medallion.

Hopefully, George would be
able to sneak him a replacement, with no one else the wiser...good ol' George,
he always came through when the chips were down. But that medallion was history,
the chances of it being found and returned were astronomical, and then he
thought…

"I wish at least that poor orphan girl might find it, maybe it
would bring some cheer to her.”

Gold, silver, diamonds...none of that
brought cheer to William, no not at all.

The riding party was mounted
and ready to ahead back to the Lakewood Villa. William mounted his horse and
looked back at the hill where the little girl had been...realizing that he had
never asked for her name.

He looked up at the bright summer afternoon
sun. It was a beautiful day again and suddenly he felt an odd surge of optimism
-- he set his mount off at a gallop towards rest of the party.